The Coop

Well, I can answer part of that... 1- The Gold membership for Live is $50 a year. This lets you do everything. However, every 360 comes with a permanent, free Live Silver package. You can't play online games (unless there's a weekend special or something), but you can still browse, get patches, chat online, buy classic games, etc. Check this out for more info. 2- Unless things have changed in the last few months, the PS3 hasn't gotten it's online stuff really going just yet. It's way too early to say "they do it for free", because they could just as easily decide the maintenance costs are too high, and start charging. If they do keep it free, great... that'll be a point in their favor. But until they're actually doing it, and offering XBox Live-level service, all for free, I wouldn't start looking at this as an argument against MS just yet. Time has yet to tell if what Sony says is indeed what happens. 3- The Wii doesn't have much of an online service yet. As such, they don't offer anything like what MS does, or what Sony plans to in terms of online gaming and services. They have the VC and friend codes and such, but it's not in the same league as what MS and Sony have/will have... for the moment. 4- Not sure what you're asking here.

Well, it's to be expected in any thread that's about a given company, system or game. No one can make a thread solely about how much they dislike Sony, MS or the big "N"... or even systems/games in general, be they past or present. They have a tendency to get locked after a short while in Gen Dis/Community (flames usually being the culprit). So, the only place to vent displeasure is in threads like this that are all encompassing. This type of thing always cycles through page after page of praise, then page after page of slams, and everything in-between. Just try not to let the down slopes get to you.

Somehow I missed this the first time through. The art work posted in here is quite nice... but uh, doesn't this kind of steer in the opposite direction of the whole "more professional" thing that was being bantered about a while back? The site has a logo, and even an unofficial (freeware) font of sorts. Somehow, giving the site its own Anime-esque character just seems a bit like a "me too" thing to do, given Anime's popularity, and the whole OS-tan, game system-tan, etc. thing. I can't quite put my finger on why, but it doesn't seem... fitting. Anyway, don't mean to be a wet blanket or anything, and God knows I'm sure I'll get at least a few "No one asked you" comments over this, but I felt the need to express my thoughts on it. I'll go put on my asbestos suit now.

C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

Right there, your paper's already off to an iffy start. It's not fairly widely accepted, but rather, it's very widely debated, with both sides pointing to studies and personal experience that they claim backs up their angle on the argument. There's been no consensus on this issue (be it regarding violence, personal mannerisms, or what have you), despite how many times it's been looked into by those pro and con. Edit: Try picking up the new EGM. They have a multi-page article on this subject in the August issue. It's nothing in-depth like a full blown study, but it does bring up a number of points on the issue.

I'm rather surprised this thread is still here, seeing as the first post is the type that usually gets deleted with, "If you're done, then just leave. Don't make a drama thread about it" commentary. As for the competitions, think about it... some of these things have been going on for quite a while in one form or another. Eventually, people simply get bored with it and move on. Plus, there are quite few of these things, which can easily be seen as driving the whole notion into the ground a bit by having too many going on at once. Perhaps it's time to give the whole competition thing a temporary rest, and let people have a break from it. It happened in UnMod a number of times, with things like the speed run tournament and the occasional score or art tournament. People just got tired of it when it ran for months on end... especially when Summer came around, and folks just wanted to go out and play (whatever that "play" may have entailed). Now I'm not saying the forum shift didn't play a hand in things by taking the competitions out of the "Community" public eye. It more than likely did. But, I don't believe that's the only culprit for the low attendance.

Was dat wiiwii necessewy? Dis fwead has just stawted to get a widdle wiidicuwous fanks to you.

This honestly isn't intended as trolling or anything, but for some reason, I get the distinct feeling that a lot of the best games on the Wii right now, were never actually made for the Wii.

Have you tried running it in DOSBox? According to their website, the game is fully supported. Grab the latest version from that website, and then go here for a tutorial on how to set up DOSBox. Also, should that not work, look into this SCUMM emulator, since that's what the game was programmed to run under. It's supposed to be 95% complete under that emulator. Edit: Or, just point and laugh at me for taking too long to type this up and get the links.

Not every older Windows game runs well in compatibility mode, and some of the user-made patches, hacks and fixes you have to try and apply/get working don't always work well either. Plus, with a real DOS environment, it can run a lot of older games without the need of tinkering with DOSBox (a program I'm throughly thankful for). Not everyone is only interested in the current game crop. Some of us like playing the older games too... especially those that aren't made for DOS, but XP hates with a passion. And really, MechWarrior 2: Titanium Edition is worth having Windows 95 for by itself

Giving this another nudge, since I've linked to it on other sites.

Blazing Wings Here's a quicky bump. This is a remake of an Amiga shmup called Wings of Death. The graphics and remakes of the music still have an Amiga feel to them, and with four different beasts to change into, it's got some gameplay to it. It's not going to change your life with it's presence, but it's worth a play or two... if for no other reason, to hear the Engrish version of "Energy"... which sounds remarkably like "Kenny G.". Note: To have music, you'll need to download the remixes on that page. After you've extracted the game, create a folder called "Musics" inside the game's folder, and put the tunes in there.

More like, "Some people don't like to base the worth of a game system on what they themselves can't yet form an experienced opinion on" Scores of people on these boards have been excited about the latest big game coming out, only to be stung hard for $50-$60 because the game didn't live up to what it was supposed to be. Busted controls, iffy frame rates, bugs in the code, questionable gameplay, things that were supposed to be in the game that got left out... it gets to the point where people prefer to take a "wait and see" attitude. The same thing goes for consoles. Promises get made about how many third parties are on board, what the system can do, how committed the company is to that system... and then suddenly, no one's making games for that system any longer, and games that are nearly done get canceled. It doesn't take long in the gaming world to have an eye opening experience that makes you stop and think about diving in head first again. You learn to be patient until the game/system can prove itself, eventually showing you how much of the hype turned out to be true. So when folks come in and start preaching about what's yet to be like it's the greatest thing ever, and start claiming that system X is the one to get because of games no one's played yet (or will play for a good while)... well, you get what we have here. For systems, I personally only go by what's able to be bought, not what's coming down the pipe. If there's nothing that interests me now, I'm not buying the system. It's as simple as that. No amount of "LOOK WHAT WE'VE GOT COMING UP!" hype is going to make me buy it. Some might call this jaded, but I call it being smart. $250-$600 is a lot of cash to spend on "what's coming", and I'm not into throwing cash away on promises for the future that could very easily not be kept. When there are enough games that interest me actually in the stores, then I'll get a given system if I have the cash. Otherwise, all I see is hype... not reasons why system X is better than system Y. For games, I prefer to wait until reviews have started pouring in. I like to see what reviewers have to say, and find out how much of the promised gaming experience is actually there. Very few games make me want to get them on day one. And unless it's a situation where a lot of game magazines and websites get to review it before it hits store shelves, 90% of those don't come home with me on release day. I don't want hype and franchise pedigrees to be the deciding factor on whether to buy a game or not. I want how the game actually turned out, to be that factor. Edit: Expanded on a few thoughts.

WHEEEEEEEEEEE DOWGY! Looks like we done got ourselves a good ol' fashioned console war! This makes me happier than a fella at a Hooters wet t-shirt contest with a bucket of ice water!

Indeed. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, where was Sony when their PS2s were being returned regularly, burned out and unable to read discs? Microsoft had the balls to own up to the fact that their original batches of systems had a problem, and took steps to try and help those who bought those units, and future customers. Sony just looked the other way and spouted how many units they'd sold. Oh, and... TEH PoS3 HAS A ONE HUNDERED PERCANT FALE RATE BECAUSE IT HAS NO GUD GAMEZ!! AMI RITE??!!!shift+one

aka She's flat chested, and was tired of being up-staged by big titty girls

lol Those wacky damn Yankees.

True, but at least Microsoft acknowledged that there is/was a problem. Sony's just comes across as playing dumb regarding the rather substantial rate of PS2 returns since the system's debut. I mean, where was the increased warranty length when scores of PS2s were being returned burned out and unable to read discs at EB and Gamestop stores all over the US? Instead of helping the customers, Sony left them to fend for themselves (i.e. having to buy a second, third, etc. system), and stuck their fingers in their ears while screaming "LA LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU WE'RE #1!"... and they're still doing it today. I realize it's hard to expect much more from a company that made the arrogant remarks they did concerning the PSP design flaw, but you'd think they'd catch on. I mean, even Microsoft, with all their cockiness, have learned how to better handle customer complaints surrounding hardware issues.

I like how he pimped the number of PS2s they've sold, but (as per the norm) didn't mention that a decent percentage of those sold units were replacements of ones that broke due to faulty hardware. Do they really think they're still fooling anyone with those numbers?

No mention of the painfully easy Castlevania II: Simon's Quest version of Dracula? He takes about five seconds to beat, and you never have to move.

I'll type this in tiny, pale text so that no one else reads it unless they want to... To beat the final boss, try these tips... - Don't get hit. Sometimes when your ship get hit, he heals himself. - Stay above his brow line. His eye laser is deadly, so stay level with his forehead. - Stay away from the holes in the background. Tentacles come out and grab you, holding you in place. This makes you an easy target, so try and stay in the large gap between the left and center hole columns. - When the screen shakes, a tentacle is about to come either shooting up or down through the screen. The moment the screen shakes, move up close to the boss' forehead. If you stay very close to it, all three tentacles will miss you. Just be sure to get back when the tentacles retract, or you'll get rammed by the head. - If you have them, use this set up for your weapons... Blue- 23 Red- 06 Yellow- 06 This gives you fast firing orbs that circle your ship. It makes the boss fights easier. - Don't use weapon "B". When I use it, the boss heals himself all the time. So try sticking to weapon "A". Hope that helps, Warmech.